DoLE grants don’t provide pathway to sustainable work — UP academic

THE Department of Labor and Employment’s (DoLE) various livelihood grants exacerbate underemployment instead of providing a path to sustainable, quality jobs, a University of the Philippines academic said.

University of the Philippines Diliman School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR) Assistant Professor Benjamin B. Velasco said the program, known as TUPAD, is “broken” and “dysfunctional.”

The Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD) also “enables patronage politics and exacerbates underemployment instead of providing sustainable work for informal workers and the long-term unemployed,” he told BusinessWorld via Messenger chat.

He urged government entities to delink public employment from patronage politics.

He cited the need “to establish a central registry of people outside the labor force, unemployed and underemployed. Cross-reference with the Social Security System registry of laid-off workers. Beneficiaries should be picked from a central registry and kept out of the hands of politicians.”

TUPAD, a cash-for-work program that has disbursed over P5.65 billion in wages, aided over one million workers from April to June 2024, DoLE said in a statement Thursday.

The temporary jobs offered under the TUPAD program include maintenance and roadside cleaning of public facilities and infrastructure, community vegetable gardening under Project LAWA at BINHI, setting up and maintening KADIWA sites, beautification of public roads, dredging of canals, tree planting, and coastal clean-up.

TUPAD is  compenent of the DoLE Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (DILEEP), which provides livelihood assistance and emergency employment. DILEEP beneficiaries have received over P6.36 billion in grants.

Beneficiaries in the Bicol Region topped 141,000, followed by CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) with over 83,000, and Central Luzon with over 83,000.

“If about P6 billion was spent for one million TUPAD beneficiaries, it means just P6,000 was given per beneficiary. This implies short-term work of 10 days to sweep the streets,” Mr. Velasco added.

“Public employment must be for a minimum of 100 days in a year. Don’t create more underemployed. Provide gainful and decent employment. Prioritize climate jobs, not roadside sweeping,” he said.

The DoLE Integrated Livelihood Program or the Kabuhayan Program component under DILEEP provides grant assistance for the startup, enhancement, or restoration of lost livelihood for disadvantaged people or groups in the informal sector. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana